(FAIRBANKS, Alaska) – The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) will end seasonal maintenance, including snow and ice removal, on the Denali and Taylor highways in October.

ADOT&PF does not maintain these highways through the winter. The department encourages drivers to remember that travel on a non-maintained highway during the winter is extremely risky.

Maintenance on the Denali Highway will end Oct. 1, 2015. Crews will begin opening the 135-mile Denali Highway in April 2016. Eight personnel will work about three weeks to open the road from both sides, at the Cantwell junction on the Parks Highway to the Paxson Lodge on the Richardson Highway.

Maintenance on the Taylor Highway, which runs from Tetlin Junction to Eagle, will end Oct. 15, 2015 and will resume in early April 2016. In April, a five-person maintenance crew will begin plowing snow and ice to re-open the 160-mile road over about a four-week period. The border crossing on the Top of The World Highway closed earlier this month and will remain closed until next May.

Drivers can check road conditions at 511.alaska.gov or by dialing 511.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 237 airports, 9 ferries serving 35 communities along 3,500 marine miles, over 5,600 miles of highway and 839 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to “Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.”

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